The fall and rise of a legend
by C-Darwin
Summary: Four years have passed since Joslyn defeated Alduin with the help of her constant companion Thorn and three have passed since they last saw each other. But soon Thorn gets a letter telling him to come to Whiterun saying that she has taken to drink for some reason. Now, fearing for his friend Thorn is determined to find out what is going on. Will eventually feature Dawnguard DLC.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! This is my first story so please review so I know what to improve on.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the elder scrolls characters. Only my own characters **

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As Thorn approached the gates of Whiterun, he thought about Joslyn. She was the dragonborn and his closest friend. "I can't believe that it has been four years since the two of us faced down Alduin and three since I last saw her. What adventures we had, Joslyn's fighting style certainly had improved from when we first met. Which I don't understand was why Mjoll sent for me. I mean, she was never really fond of me, but it sounded urgent." he nodded towards the guards as he walked past "Ah, we haven't seen you in a while, what brings you here now?" one of the guards asked him "I got a letter from a friend a couple of days ago, I was just going to stop by to see how things were going." "If you're talking about the dragonborn, you may want to watch yourself. I hear she spends almost all of her time at the Bannered Mare drinking until she can't stand." "What!? T-that couldn't possibly be true!" Thorn exclaimed, the Joslyn he knew barely drank, much less got drunk. "I'm afraid it is," the other guard joined in "I've seen it with my own eyes. It started about two months ago." "Yeah," said the first guard "that sounds about right about the time I heard a rumor that she was traveling with some boy, just on his first adventure, and when they exited a tomb, a dragon attacked and managed to kill the poor lad while she was fighting it." "Well, I'd best hurry up then." Thorn said "Thank you, at least now it won't be quite as shocking" he said as he continued walking towards the gates.

As soon as Thorn walked through the gates to Whiterun, Aerin was there to great him. "There you are! I heard you were on your way here and waited for you so I could tell you what to expext." Aerin said, "Firstly, Mjoll has been worried sick, she wasn't sure if you were coming." "Of course I would come. Her letter said it was urgent, and if the rumors that I've heard are true, you should have sent for me earlier." "I know, and I said as much when the, um, 'incidents' first started, but Mjoll said it was just a faze and everything would be okay in a couple of weeks. But even as we speak, Joslyn is passed out in the Bannered Mare. I'll tell you Thorn, I'm worried that there may be more than just Erik's death that sent her into this." "Wait," Thorn interrupted, "Erik, the boy who Joslyn helped out last year when he told her he wanted to become an adventurer?" "Yes, he started calling himself 'Erik the Slayer', but probably never slew anything bigger than a rabbit before Joslyn helped him out. As I was saying, I think there may be more than just his death bothering her. I think she may have been depressed before all this and his death under her watch may have been the final straw." "It may have been when-" Thorn suddenly stopped as he heard a commotion in the market. "What was that?" Aerin asked. "I don't know but it didn't sound good." Thorn answered as he started running towards the commotion.

As they approached Belethor's shop they saw a guard yelling at a man. His race and age were impossible to tell because his entire head, except his eyes, was wrapped in bandages. The man was waring dark leather armor that cut off at the shoulders revealing even more bandages that wrapped around his arms and had a dangerous looking sword on his back. Thorn had only seen swords that looked like that at the temple of the blades, but this was somehow different, longer maybe. The guard kept yelling at the man who was now making gestures of some kind while backing up some. "Answer me!" the guard yelled at the man "What are you doing here and why have you just been standing around for past hour?! Are you with the Thieve's guild, or are you just a common criminal?" The man kept backing up when he realized his back was against the well in the center of the town. The guard kept yelling at the man and started to push him it was fairly obvious to everyone watching that the guard was about to strike the man. Out of the corner of his eye, Thorn noticed two figures running towards the sene. One was a Brenton girl who couldn't have been much older than he was, barely twenty five, with a large scar and an eye patch over her left eye. She had hair so black it was almost blue, and was wearing the same kind of armor as the man only with sleeves. Seeing this, Thorn realized that it was the armor of a Thieve's guild initiate. The other was an Imperial man who must have been in his fifties with greying hair and wearing steel plate amor. When the guard reared back to hit him, the man with the bandages slid his foot behind the guard's ankle and kicked him in the side of the knee. A loud crack echoed through the market place and the guard collapsed and howled with pain. Thorn had seen enough injuries to know just by looking at the way the guard's leg was turned that he would almost certainly never walk the same way again. He would be lucky to be able to continue guard duty. As the other guards came running, the girl with the eye patch went up to the guard leading the others, "Hey back off, your man threw the first punch, my friend was just defending himself!" she yelled at the man "From what I saw he was refusing to answer when a guard asked him for his name and continued to stay silent through all of the questions." the guard told her. "First of all, he's mute!" yelled the girl. "And secondly, he was trying to answer your man, that's what he was doing with his hands!". "I'm sorry about that, but he seriously injured a guard and you must ether pay his bounty, or he must spend at least a week in the dungeon." "Alright," said the older man "What's the bounty?" "40 gold for assault, 100 gold to help pay for medical expenses, and another 20 for lollygagging", the guard said slightly patronizing. "That's not right," Thorn muttered to Aerin, "40 for assault, okay. But 100 for medical expenses? That never happens, not even for near murders. This is something I would expect in Riften, but not Whiterun." "What can we do though?" Aerin asked naively. "These are the town guards, it's not like we can go up and just demand that they drop the bounty, that guy did cripple a guard pretty much for the rest of his life." "No, I can't just go up and make them drop the bounty. But, I can do this." Thorn said as he started walking towards the guard. "160 septims?! I can't afford that!" The girl was yelling at the guard as Thorn approached "Hi," Thorn said to the guard. "Is there anyway I could pay the bounty?" "Why should I care who pays it? As long as it gets paid." "Well then," Thorn said handing the guard a small leather pouch containing the bounty amount "Here you go." "Hey!" the girl said "we don't need charity!" "Then consider it a gift," Thorn said "You can repay me by buying me a few drinks inside the inn" he said as he walked towards the Bannered Mare. "Wait!" Aerin said as he grabbed Thorn's arm, "What about Joslyn?" he whispered so the three travelers couldn't here him. "Well," Thorn said as he removed Aerin's clenched hand from his arm, "You said she's passed out right? So I am just going to have a couple of meads and wait for her to wake up." "Mjoll is not going to be happy if you get drunk Thorn." Aerin stated firmly. "I'm not going to get drunk, don't worry. Come get me as soon as Joslyn wakes up." Thorn replied, obviously getting frustrated with Aerin.

"So, what's your name?" he asked the girl with the eyepatch as they entered the inn. "Evelyn" she replied curtly, "And your friends?" he asked "My name is Maximus, please forgive me for not offering my thanks for your help earlier." The old man replied. "I assure you, I was more than happy to help Maximus, were you in the legion?" Thorn asked the older man as they moved towards their table "No, I was just a simple miner until about ten years ago." "What happened ten years ago? If you don't mind my asking" "Oh not at all." Maximus replied as they sat down. "You see Evelyn and both hale from a small mining camp on the border of Skyrim and Cyrodill. Ten years ago, a man stumbled into our camp and collapsed. His whole head and both of his arms were wrapped in bandages. The only possessions he had with him were a kind of leather armor so badly damaged that there was no way to repair it. He also had a very unusual sword and two daggers, the likes I have never seen again. He had no visible wounds so we assumed he collapsed from exhaustion. As he lay there he tried to tell us something but could not speak. He tried to write it out but it was using some symbols that I had never seen before. We carried him to a nearby tent and let him sleep as it was obvious that he had traveled an extremely long way. Later that night I woke up to the sound of screams, we were being attacked. It was then I realized what our guest had been trying to tell us, vampire. Leading the creatures was some kind of horrible creature with long claws and skin that was a pale blue. It was a massacre. We were just miners, not warriors. We didn't even have guards. For some reason they let me and Evelyn live but not without giving her a little reminder." "Like I could ever forget." Evelyn interrupted gesturing to her eye. "That creature leading the vampires, he did this to me. I was fourteen when it happened." "I am so sorry for bringing those terrible memories." Thorn said "I'm going to guess the man who tried to warn you was your friend here though." "Yes, it was. After the attack we found him pinned under a pile of ore that one of the vampires had started throwing around. After that, we decided to stick together. After all, we only had each other now. It took some time, but after a few months we learned his sign language. He told us his name, Tobias."

Maximus was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of Aerin and Mjoll. "Thorn, Joslyn is awake. If you are going to talk to her, it might be best to do it now, before she finds some more mead or wine." Mjoll said, not bothering to hide her hostility towards Thorn. "Well, I guess I had better go. It was nice meeting you all. If you're ever in Markarth, don't hesitate to ask a guard where I am. My door is always open." Thorn told the group as he got up and walked up stairs, dreading having to meet with Joslyn if things had really gotten as bad as he had heard. "Well," he thought, as he opened the door "Here goes nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Hey you guys! I've decided I will try to update at least once a week. A huge shoutout to MoonFlower04 and AssassinPro, thanks so much for the reviews!**

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"Joslyn?" Thorn said as he opened the door.

"Huh, I must be drunk or dreaming. I thought I heard Thorn just then. Now, where did Mjoll hide the damn mead?" a tall Nord with long black hair said as she bent over to look at some bottles under the night stand "Ha! Here's some!" she said as she raised a bottle to her lips "Damn it!" she shouted as she threw the bottle against the wall "It's empty. What does a girl have to do to get some damned mead around here?" She asked to herself as she turned around "T-Thorn?" she stammered as she saw him standing in the doorway with a look of complete and utter shock on his face.

"Where have you been for the last three years!" she shouted when she got over her shock and started to storm up to him. "You left a note saying you were going to see more of Tamriel and that you would write often. I haven't gotten one damn letter from you!" She yelled as she slapped him across the face. "I've thought you were dead for the last three years. You my best friend since we were in Honorhall." she said quietly "Why? Why did you refuse to write? What did I do?" she started to sob.

"What are you talking about? I sent you a letter at least once a month. The only reason I didn't think you were dead was that I still heard stories about your exploits. I even bought a house in Markarth hoping to see you." he said obviously confused "I thought you were angry at me for leaving. That's the whole reason I never came to Whiterun until Mjoll sent a letter saying you needed help."

"I don't need help!" she yelled at him.

"Joslyn, I have heard the stories. I know you've been drinking until you black out every single day for the past two months. You do need help." Thorn said as calmly as he could as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Mead and whine are the only things that help me forget. You don't know what I've had to deal with over the last three years." Joslyn muttered.

"The only story that I've heard was that that kid Erik died when he was with you. So tell me what else has happened to make you drink like this, because I can't understand any of this. You've seen death before and you and I both lost some close friends when we got caught in the crossfire of this stupid war."

"I know we've both lost people but, Erik was the last straw. After what happened with him, I-I just couldn't take it. I got him killed, I never should have brought him with me."

"What do you mean? I heard the two of you were fighting a dragon and Erik charged it without thinking. To me, it sounds like Erik tried to impress you, instead of asking you how to deal with a dragon. Even though you are the, you know, damned dragonborn. How is that, in any way your fault?"

"It wasn't a dragon that killed Erik. That was just what I told Mjoll when she asked what happened. Erik was killed by a vampire. A vampire that I had met before and did nothing about." Joslyn stated almost numbly

"What are you talking about? What do you mean you had met this vampire before but did nothing about it?"

"About six months ago, there was this orc who was in Whiterun. He said his name was Durak and he was a member of a organization that hunted vampires. The organization was called the Dawnguard, and he said they were looking for help. So I said I'd do what I could. I ended up meeting their leader, a man named Isran, and he told me that the Hall of the Vigilant had been destroyed and he needed someone to go to Dimhollow Crypt to see what the vampires were doing there. Long story short, they were looking for an ancient vampire named Serana who had been asleep for at least four thousand years. I found her and agreed to take her to her home." Joslyn said as she sat down on a chair in the corner.

"So, it was Serana who killed Erik?" Thorn asked kind of confused.

"No, no. It was one of the members of her father's court."

"Wait, her father's court? I thought you said she had been asleep for four thousand years? How could her father still be alive after all that time? All the vampires I have ever had contact with had no self control, and would end up attacking anyone who came near. This always results in their extermination." Thorn interrupted.

"I'm getting to that, just listen okay?" Joslyn said, obviously frustrated and upset. "I have a really bad hangover right now, so I may get ahead of my self, but everything will be cleared up in the end. I promise. Okay, so I had just agreed to take Serana back to her home and we were on the way. I had only agreed to take her back so I could find out more about the elder scroll she had with her."

"Wait, she had an ELDER SCROLL?! How did she get that?" Thorn interrupted.

"Did I not mention that? I thought I had. Yeah she had an elder scroll. I'm still not sure how she got it but I talked to her while we were on the road, and I realized something. She is not evil. She must be the first vampire I have ever met who is not evil. She's, well, she's actually really nice. We ended up becoming good friends on the journey, but when we got to the castle..." Joslyn shivered as she said that last part. "When we got to the castle I had the displeasure of meeting her father, Lord Harkon. He gave me a choice, become a vampire lord like him, or be banished from the castle and become fair game at any time." Joslyn paused here to collect her self "I chose banishment. Harkon is a monster Thorn. He sent some assassins after me and they got Erik instead. It was my fault he got killed." Joslyn began to weep again after she said this.

"Hey, hey. It's alright. Everything will be alright." Thorn said softly as he grabbed her hand. "You said that Erik's death was the last straw. What else happened to drive you to drink like this? I know it's hard, but you need to talk about it." he said as he squeezed her hand.

"When you were traveling did you hear that the companions have a new harbinger?" Joslyn asked.

"No, who is it?" Thorn asked shocked.

"It's Vilkas. Kodlak is dead Thorn. Jorvasker was attacked by the silver hand about a month after you left and he was killed in the fighting." Joslyn said softly

"What? Oh gods Joslyn I'm so sorry" Thorn knew that even though Joslyn had never been a companion, she and Kodlak had become good friends over the years. In fact, Kodlak was almost like a father to her. "At least tell me those responsible have been killed." he pleaded

"Yeah, Aela, the twins, and I destroyed the entire silver hand that same week." Joslyn said tears still running down her face "All these terrible things have started to happen in the past year. I-I'm just not sure I can deal with it all. I've started to consider trying what the nerevarine did and just leave Tamriel for good. I mean, I don't think I can take much more of these incidents with the vampires. I can't even leave the town without fearing for getting attacked." she said

"What about that guy Isran or whatever, couldn't you ask him for help?" Thorn said kind of confused.

"Ha. That bastard would barely talk to me after I told him about Serana. He yelled at me, telling me to never contact him again and that was that." Joslyn muttered. "I'm not sure I can deal with it Thorn. Every single time I leave Whiterun, I barely make it out of sight of the walls before I'm attacked. I can't even ride in a carriage without fearing for both my life and the carriage drivers." Joslyn started to sob at this "It's driving me insane! I just know it's only a mater of time before they attack Breazehome, and I can't do anything about it!"

"What do you mean you can't do anything about it? You're the dragonborn for Talos sake! Fight back!" Thorn said.

"I tried, I really did. But they just keep coming and coming, and they keep getting stronger and I'm not strong enough anymore. I sent Lydia up to Proudspire, I told her not to come back unless someone she knows well sends for her. I didn't want her getting hurt." Joslyn said

"What about Mjoll and Aerin? Why didn't you send them back to Riften?" Thorn asked obviously growing more worried.

"Mjoll wouldn't let me. I did everything I could and she still wouldn't go. I was about to try to find someway to force her, but then you arrived"Joslyn paused suddenly realizing something "I thought you were dead." she said with a look of shock on her face.

"You said that already." Thorn said, concerned for Joslyn's state of mind.

"If I thought you were dead," Joslyn continued acting like she hadn't heard Thorn. "Then how did Mjoll know that you were alive? How did she know that you were even back in Skyrim, and where to send the letter?" She said with utter grief as everything clicked into place

"Oh Mjoll, please tell me you didn't do what I think you did" Thorn thought to himself "I'm sure she just heard rumors that's all." Thorn said to Joslyn

"Oh please, don't give me that. I may not have seen you for three years Thorn, but I can still tell that you're thinking the same thing I am. That Mjoll has been getting your letters and destroying them before I can read them." Joslyn said her eyes brimming with tears.

That was exactly what he thought. "Jolsyn, don't do anything rash" He said as Joslyn got up and made her way to the door and stormed down the stairs and aproched Mjoll.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Hey you guys! For some reason, I was able to get this chapter out pretty fast. Hope you enjoy! As always, reviews are much appreciated.**

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"Oh gods!" Thorn thought as he raced downstairs to try to stop Joslyn from making a scene. He knew that even if her outlook on life had changed, her temper probably didn't. He knew that if he wasn't able to intervene, that this could end badly for the whole inn. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he heard Jolsyn start to yell.

"Mjoll! How could you do this?" he heard Joslyn yell "I trusted you! Why would you betray me like this!"

As he rounded the corner he saw Joslyn and Mjoll standing at the bar with the whole inn looking at them. "What are you talking about my love?" Mjoll responded, with a look on her face that said she new exactly what Joslyn was talking about.

"Don't give me that shit! You know I'm talking about you burning all those letters Thorn sent me!" Joslyn screamed at a very guilty looking Mjoll.

"M-My love, I would never do that!" Mjoll said with a look of such obvious guilt that everyone in the bar could see it.

Joslyn slapped Mjoll across the face as tears started to run down her face "I thought he was dead. Because of you, I thought he was dead. He was my best friend since we were children, and you allowed me to believe that he had died. How could you? If you really love me as much as you say you do, how could you do this?" Thorn noticed that Joslyn's voice was getting louder and was starting to sound like she was about to shout.

"Joslyn, maybe you should go upstairs for a bit. You're about to start using the _thu'um_ with out shouting. Remember how long it took the Greybeards to help you get your voice back to normal last time this happened?" Thorn quickly intervened "You need to calm down, remember, the Greybeards said your voice may not ever go back to normal if it happens again." he said when Joslyn opened her mouth to protest.

"Okay, okay. You're right. I-I'm just going to go upstairs and rest." she said as she realized he was right.

"I'll be up in a minute, okay?" Thorn asked worried at how easily she gave in.

"Okay." Joslyn said numbly as she turned towards the stairs.

"Mjoll are you okay?" Aerin said as he walked up and saw tears starting to run down Mjoll's face

"I'm fine" she replied curtly

"If by fine you mean a backstabbing bitch, then yeah, you're perfectly fine." Thorn said angrily as he turned towards her. "I cannot believe that you would do that to her. I mean, shit. What you did, that-that's just cruel. Why would you ever do that?"

"To protect her from you and your friends in the Thieves Guild" she replied angrily

"See, that's your problem Mjoll. You don't even see members of the Guild as real people. You see them as vermin, as trash. Have you ever said to yourself 'Hey these are real people, with families and feelings. Maybe I should talk to them instead of just assuming that their evil people. I don't even know them!' I mean, your whole outlook on the guild is just wrong." Thorn was looking Mjoll strait in the eyes as he said this. "If a child is thrown out on the streets and can't find work, and ends up stealing just to survive, you say that he is vermin and should be killed. You never stop to think of the people you hate. No, I can't say that. You don't think of them as people." Thorn never thought he could ever get this angry.

"You already said that." Mjoll said meekly

"Well, I thought you needed to hear it more than once!" Thorn yelled. "In you eyes anyone who steals, be it a child or youth trying to survive, or a man who murders his victims for their gold, is an object to be destroyed." Thorn stopped and just stared at Mjoll for a few seconds. "Maybe you should just go back to Breazehome, before you end up causing any more arguments."

Mjoll turned and walked away without a word, with Aerin scurrying behind her as always. As Thorn turned to go upstairs, a hand grabbed his shoulder. He turned around and grabbed the person's wrist, twisting it behind their back and shoved them against the wall before seeing that it was Evelyn. "Sorry about that." he said as he let go of her wrist "Old habits die hard. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine" Evelyn replied rubbing her wrist "I should have said something before I grabbed you. I heard you mention you were in the Guild and I wanted to see if you knew of a fence in the area."

"Not here." Thorn said quietly "Come upstairs in about half an hour. Don't want the guards overhearing our conversation." as he started to walk upstairs he turned and noticed that Maximus and Tobias were not in the inn "Where are your friends?" he asked

"They went to the temple to see the priestess." she said

"Why? I mean, no offense, but no one in your group seams like the religious type, and none of you had any injuries, unlike that guard Tobias maimed."

"Not all injuries are visible ones" She said softly "Besides, that guard was about to start beating Tobias. You were there and paid his bounty for us, so I know that you saw that."

"Yeah, but that man will always have trouble walking now. He'll be lucky if he can continue being a guard after a break like that." Thorn remarked.

"Tobias never likes to fight but when he has to, he makes sure that he hits first and so hard that the other person never wants to continue." Evelyn defended.

"Well, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Danica isn't the only reason you came to Whiterun if you're asking about a fence. In fact, I'd be willing to say you or Tobias were the ones who pulled of the job at Honningbrew." Thorn said smugly.

"How did you know about that? Was it really that obvious?" Evelyn asked worriedly running her hand through her hair.

"No, not at all. I haven't had contact with the Guild for the last three years but, I know that Maven has had her eye on Honningbrew for a long time and Sabjorn is meticulous about how he brews his mead. He never bottles a single drop of mead that he hasn't tasted himself, never mind give some to the captain of the guard. This is exactly the kind of thing Maven would get Mercer to do." Thorn explained carefully. "Speaking of Mercer, can I give you some advice?"

"Of course, any help would be welcome." Evelyn replied, amazed that Thorn could figure out the basics of, what was supposed to be, a top secret mission.

"Do not trust Mercer Frey. He is a slimy bastard and will try to stab you in the back the first chance he gets if he sees you as a threat." he warned.

"What makes you say that? I mean, yeah he's an ass, but being an ass doesn't mean he's a traitor." Evelyn defended

"Well, at heart I'm at bit of a historian. I probably know more about the history of the Guild than any other member, and the way Mercer claims the way Gallus, the previous guild master, died just sounds wrong. I've looked over the reports and, well it just doesn't add up. Don't talk about this with anyone in the Guild okay? Not even Brynjolf. I don't have any proof,and if Mercer found out that you were looking into the past, you may have an unfortunate accident on the job." Thorn warned.

"Okay." Evelyn said, concerned but not totally convinced. "Well, it seams like you know a lot about me, but I know nothing about you. What's your story Thorn? I mean, all I know about you is that you're a thief, an adventure, and a historian." She asked trying to change the subject. "How did you get to become so close to the Dragonborn?"

"Ah, you see in order to tell you that, I'll have to tell you my whole life's story. You sure you want to hear that?" he asked

"Of course. Like I said, you know almost everything about me, but I know very little about you."

"Okay, well meet me upstairs in half an hour and I'll tell you." he said as he continued walking up the stairs. As he approached Joslyn's room, he wondered what, if anything, he would say to her. He knew how much she loved Mjoll, and how much her betrayal would hurt.

"Hey, Joslyn?" he said as he opened the door and found her curled up on the bed, tears streaming down her face. "Hey, everything will be okay in the end. I know for a fact that Mjoll only did that because she loves you, and was trying to protect you." he said as he hugged her

"Protect me from what? My best friend? Why?" Joslyn sobbed into his shoulder after about fifteen minutes of silence.

"Hey, you know she hates the Guild. She would do anything for you. She would die for you, just give her some time. She's going to realize what a massive mistake it was, and come crawling back, begging for forgiveness." Thorn hated himself for telling her this. He wanted nothing more than to tell her to wash her hands of Mjoll and never look back but, he knew just how much that would hurt Joslyn, and he understood why Mjoll did it. He just wished that she had thought ahead, and saw how much it would hurt instead of help.

"Hey rest up. Tomorrow, you and I are going to start traveling to Markarth. I have a surprise I've been waiting to give to you, but I couldn't bring it with me." he said as he gave her a final hug.

"NO!" Joslyn shouted out of fear. "What about the vampires?!" she continued with a wild look in her eye.

"We'll get you some new clothes and a hood or something. I don't think that they will realize it's you if you travel with a companion. It will be fine, just relax. Don.t worry about the vampires." he said in a voice that had always calmed her down in the past. "I have to go to my room now, okay? I made a promise to someone, and if there is one thing I learned from you, it's always keep your word." he told her

"I remember how much you hated that at first. I guess being raised by the Companions versus the Thieves Guild kind of drills a sense of honor into you." she smiled through the tears "Besides, you're right. I do need to rest."

"I'll wake you up around eight okay?" he said as he got up to open the door.

"Okay."Joslyn said softly. "Hey," she said as he started to step out into the hallway.

"Yeah?"

"You need to rest too. You still look like shit after three years." She joked as Thorn left, sticking his middle finger up behind him as he closed the door.

Thorn walked over to his room and saw Evelyn sitting at a table in the hallway. "So," he began "You ready to hear my life's story. I assure you, It's not pretty" he said as he sat down beside her.

"What, and mine is perfect?" She said sarcastically as she pointed towards the patch covering the area where her eye used to be.

"Fair enough. My story really starts when I was about six..." Thorn began.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey guys! I managed to get this chapter written really fast for some reason! Warning descriptions of torture towards the end.**

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"I was raised by my father, a merchant named Rolf."

"Wait, Evelyn interrupted "So you're a Nord?"

"Half Nord, my mother was a Bosmer. I got my father's hight and my mother's build, as a child I was picked on a little because of my mixed race and how skinny I was for my hight. But that is what has made me such a great thief, I can get into spaces to small for other people, and can reach things that would be incredibly difficult if not for my hight. We lived in Ivarstead until I was six. My father decided to move to Riften and on the way there, we-we were attacked by a bear. My father managed to kill it, but was wounded in the process. He knew we had to make it to Riften soon or he would die from his injuries. We didn't make it. I ended up in Honorhall Orphanage, that's where I met Joslyn. You wouldn't know it now, but when we first met, we absolutely hated each other." Thorn laughed a little as he said the last part.

"What happened?" Evelyn asked intrigued.

"Well, there was this boy, he was about nine or ten, who bullied everyone. Now that I'm older, I understand that he was just worried about being thrown out by Grelod, but at the time, we all hated him. He would always shove us around, call everyone names, and eventually he started beating other kids up for no reason. One day he shoved Joslyn to the ground, after beating some other kids to the ground, so I walked up to him and tried to hit him" Thorn paused here to take a drink.

"So you beat a kid in a fight, and you and Joslyn were suddenly friends?" Evelyn asked confused.

"Ha! No. I got the piss beat out of me" Thorn laughed "I was only six, this kid was four years older, a foot taller, and about twenty pounds heavier than I was. I still have a scar from where he hit me with a rock" Thorn gestured to a white line near his right temple. "But Joslyn, she helped me heal up. Grelod used to beat us all the time, so Joslyn knew that if I was still bleeding by night fall, then the beating Grelod would give me the next morning may kill me. Thankfully, Joslyn has always been gifted in restoration magic. She was only five at the time, but she could muster up a weak restoration spell, just enough to patch me up."

"Wait" Evelyn interrupted "Where did she learn a restoration spell when she was five years old, and in an orphanage? And if she hated you, why help you?"

"I don't know about the restoration spell, I always assumed she learned it from ether her family, or one of the priests at the temple." Thorn mused "As for helping me, there was always an unspoken code in the orphanage, if you get seriously hurt or are unable to avoid the worst of Grelod's wrath, someone would always help you out. Even if they hated you. Anyway, after she helped me heal, we tolerated one another. As the years went by, we did end up becoming friends. Not close, but friends never less. But, when I turned eleven, I was kicked out of the orphanage."

"For what?" Evelyn asked outraged "What could an eleven year old do to get kicked out of an orphanage?"

"Nothing. Grelod just doesn't keep kids around after ten or eleven. They may get big enough to start fighting back." Thorn said angrily. "So I had to turn to begging to survive. One day, I tired of begging and tried pickpocketing and found that I was very very good at it."

"So that's how you got involved with the Guild?" Evelyn asked

"In a way. I tried to pickpocket Brynjolf and got caught." Thorn said smiling "I remember panicking, thinking he was going to turn me in or something. Instead, he offered me a job. I worked with Bryn as a look out of sorts. I would sit near the gates, watch travelers come into Riften, and decide which of them would be easy marks. One day, there was this massive Nord wearing very expensive looking steal armor. I followed him for a bit, trying to gauge the risk versus the reward of picking his pockets. Then, I heard him talking to the guards asking about the orphanage. I knew-I knew that Joslyn was about to be kicked out onto the streets and I knew that she wouldn't last long. She was just to kind and trusting. So, I waited until the man was alone then I asked him if he was looking to adopt. He said that he was, but he had heard that the orphanage was not allowing adoptions. I told him the only people allowed to adopt at Honorhall, were the people who only wanted free labor, so he had to act like a thug if he wanted to adopt. I could tell he wasn't sure about it so I told him about the beatings and the lack of food. He became outraged, said he would go to the Jarl and have Grelod arrested. I told him people had already done that, and Grelod has the children so intimidated that they lie and say she is the kindest woman they have ever met." Evelyn could see Thorn gripping the edge of the table so hard, that his fingernails were leaving marks in the wood.

"That's-that's horrible!" She gasped. "How can someone do that to children?"

"Grelod is evil. That is the only real explanation I have ever come up with to explain why she does the things she does. I asked the man if he was going to adopt, to adopt Joslyn, I described her to him and told him about how she would be kicked out onto the streets if she wasn't adopted soon. Thankfully, he understood. He went into the orphanage acting like I told him to, and came out with Joslyn. I could tell she was afraid as he dragged her out by her wrist, so I went up to her as soon as the door to the orphanage closed and told her what had happened. The man who adopted her was named Alik and he was a companion. I stayed with the Thieves Guild, while Joslyn was raised by the Companions. I kept doing jobs for the Guild, earned enough to start learning smithing with Balimund, found out I'm a natural by the way, but I was eventually caught near the border when I was twenty, and sentenced to die. Ironically, I met up with Joslyn at Helgen at our execution. She was captured along with Ulfric Stormcloak in an Imperial ambush."

"Wait" Evelyn interupted "Joslyn was a Stormcloak? I thought she was neutral in the war"

"She is, she just ended up getting captured when she crossed the border with out papers. Alik had died from rockjoint about two years before Helgen, Joslyn was just going to visit his grave, like she does every year, just outside the border of Skyrim. She just happened to walk right into the ambush at exactly the wrong time." Thorn stopped to drink some more mead.

"That's awful. Joslyn has had such a hard life. Is that why she started drinking the way she has?" Evelyn asked.

"No, but I don't think she ever really recovered. I think this business with Erik just finally broke her." Thorn said sadly "If you had met her three years ago, you two would have gotten along great. She always wanted to help people, even at the expense of her own happiness. She was the kindest person I had ever met. No task was too small for her." Thorn said with a sad smile. "Anyway, there we were in Helgen. I'm sure you've heard the stories" he stated.

"Aye, her head was on the chopping block when a massive black dragon came from the sky, laying waste to the whole town." Evelyn said like she had heard the story a thousand times

"Exactly what happened!" Thorn said oblivious to Evelyn's disinterest in Helgen

"Really? I always thought it was just a story designed to impress people." Evelyn said surprised

"No, it really happened like the stories say. Afterwords, we traveled to Riverwood with an Imperial solder named Hadvar. He's a good man, tried to prevent Joslyn from going to the block actually. Then we traveled here to warn the Jarl about the dragon attacks, he asked us to assist at the western watch tower, and that's were we found out Joslyn was the Dragonborn."

"You make it sound so ordinary, like going to the market!" Evelyn exclaimed "How can you do that? I'm sure the whole journey was more eventful than that."

"Eh, I guess after traveling with the Dragonborn for five years you kinda just, I don't know, get used to it." Thorn shrugged "After the events at the western watchtower, I went back to Riften for a few weeks while Joslyn made the climb up to High Hrothgar. I told Brynjolf and Delvin that I was going to explore a few tombs and ruins and wouldn't come back for some time, which was true, but left out the part about meeting up with the Dragonborn. So after some adventures that I'm not going to discuss here, Joslyn and I ended up meeting Delphine, one of the last blades in all of Tamriel, and finally found out why dragons were coming back. Alduin was raising them from the dead."

"That's how all the dragons came back!?" Evelyn exclaimed

"Yeah, it is. After that, I told Joslyn I was going back to Riften for a few days to tell Bryjolf the truth and that I may not return to Riften for a few months. On my way, I was captured by the Thalmor." Thorn spat as he said the last part. "I was held captive and tortured by them for six months. Joslyn said she looked all over after she found out that I never made it to Riften. It was blind luck I happened to be in the basement of the Embassy when she went through. I spent at least two months there being tortured in one of the worst ways imaginable, after being tortured in Northwatch Keep." Thorn took of his gloves and Evelyn saw he was missing his ring finger on his left hand. The stump where it was had a strange web-like scar all the way up the back of his hand and continued up his sleave. "First, they pulled out the fingernail with a pair of pliers over a two day period. Then they wrapped the finger in a bandage soaked in sea water so it burned at all times. They let me sit like that for two weeks, someone coming by every two days to make sure my finger wasn't healing. Then over a period of a week, once a day they chopped a portion of my finger off and then wrapped what was left in a bandage that had frost salts, regular salts, and frostbite venom woven in the fabric. It took them another two weeks to cut it down too the second knuckle. That was when I was found by Joslyn while she was on a mission for Delphine. I got frostbite from the frost salts and venom so we had to cut the rest of the finger off. I got these wonderful scars when I contracted blood poisoning from the filthy conditions in my cell and it reacted with the frostbite venom in my system." Thorn rubbed the stump where his finger used to be as he spoke

"Why would they do that?" Evelyn asked horrified at the torture he was put through

"They were looking for information on a man named Esbern. They had another man down with me asking him the same questions, but fortunately they just beat him when he couldn't give an answer. His face did swell up extremely bad though. Not like the Thalmor to make wounds from torture visible." Thorn trailed off for a second.

"Who was Esbern?" Evelyn asked

"Huh? Sorry. Esbern was the other remaining blade and he lived deep in the Ratway, he helped us defeat Alduin, but what he asked of Joslyn afterwords was too horrible to do." Thorn said sadly

"What did he ask you to do?" Evelyn asked, completely immersed in the story.

"He asked us to kill Paarthurnax, the leader of the Greybeards who was also a dragon. He was quite possibly the only good dragon I have ever met, and I could never imagine trying to kill him. Anyway after Joslyn rescued me, I traveled with her to help her defeat Alduin and long story short, we went to Sovngarde to fight Alduin and won. Afterwords, I started to explore tombs and ruins often as I could, and found out I can make quite a bit of money delving into dangerous ruins when others are to afraid so that's what I've been doing for the last three years." Thorn said as he clapped his hands together "So, that's my story. What do you think?" he asked Evelyn

"What! That's it? 'Long story short we went to Sovengarde to fight Alduin and won'" she mimicked "What else happened? You traveled with her for five years! You must have some incredible stories!" she exclaimed

"I do but you asked how I became so close to Joslyn and I gave you that and a little more." Thorn jokingly "You really want to hear another story?" he asked. Evelyn nodded furiously almost like a child expecting a treat "Okay, well have you ever heard of Blackreach?" Thorn asked.

Before he could answer, Arein ran up the stairs. "Thorn I need you and Joslyn now!" he said urgently

"What's wrong!?" Thorn asked as how worried Arein sounded

"Vampires are attacking Breazehome! Mjoll and the guards aren't going to hold off much longer. Please hurry!" Arein exclaimed "You'd better come too." he said looking at Evelyn "One of your friends was running towards the conflict when I came to get you."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys short chapter for now, but I'll update a longer one soon. As always, thanks for reviewing or just reading!**

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"Come on! Hurry!" Joslyn yelled back at Evelyn, Thorn, and Arein as she ran out the door of the inn "We've got to help them!"

"They were right in front of Breezehome when I-" an arrow suddenly priced Arein's neck as they approached the well in the center of the market

"Shit! Get down!" Thorn yelled as he took cover behind Fralia Grey-Mane's market stand. "Joslyn, hand me that bow!" he whispered as Joslyn and Evelyn took cover beside him

"This?" Joslyn replied holding up the crossbow she had grabbed when he woke her up to warn her about the attack. "Do you even know how to use a crossbow?

"Yes! And you know I've always been a better archer than you are!" he hissed back

"Fine." Joslyn relented as she handed him the crossbow

"Evelyn, I need you to run behind the well to see if Arein is still alive. If he is, see if you can stop the bleeding." Thorn ordered as he loaded a bolt "Hurry!" He hissed when she didn't move

"What about the archer?" She hissed back "He'll get me if I move!"

"No he won't! When you run out there, he'll be distracted long enough for me to get a good shot!" Thorn peered over the edge of the stall to see where the archer was. He quickly ducked back down when an arrow suddenly thudded into the display case right behind his head "His attention is on me! If you move now when I stand up, he's going to have to choose between the two of us. That gives me just enough time to shoot him! On three. One. Two. Three!" Thorn stood up as Evelyn ran for cover behind the well in the center of the market. Thorn saw the archer hesitate and fired the crossbow and saw the figure go down instantly and handed the crossbow back to Joslyn.

"How's Arien?" Joslyn asked concerned, as she ran up beside Evelyn

"He didn't make it." Evelyn said sadly "The arrow hit him perfectly. He bled out within seconds of being hit."

"Damn it!" Joslyn exclaimed "I hope we're not to late for Mjoll!" she said as she started to run towards Breezehome and noticed the bodies of multiple guards lying out in front of the house

"Wait. Something's not right" Thorn said as they reached the house "Why are all the candles out? Mjoll always keeps at least one lit no matter what time of day it is." Thorn said as he started to walk around the house "Joslyn, wait out here." he said as he came back to the front

"No way. I am going to kill every single one of those bastards for this." she replied

"No." Thorn said firmly "All you have is the crossbow. You don't even have a dagger." he told her as he unsheathed his dragonbone sword "You'll get seriously injured if something is inside."

"You don't even have any armor! All you have is that stupid tunic that you got five years ago! I can almost see through it it's so thin!" She hissed as he reached for the door handle

"You're staying outside. Go get Danica and see if there are any survivors. Evelyn I need you to watch my back. It's a small house but I don't want any surprises when we're inside." he said as he opened the door

"Okay" Evelyn replied unsheathing her two elven daggers as she stepped inside behind him

* * *

"Go get Danica my ass!" Joslyn muttered as she ran up to the temple "I'm the gods damned Dragonborn and he won't even allow me inside my own home. Danica! We need help!" she cried as she opened the door to the temple "Danica? Where are you?" she said as she looked around the temple seeing only the sleeping patients. "What was that?" she asked as she heard a rustling coming from behind a closed door. Joslyn opened the door only to see Danica tied up with a gag placed in her mouth "Danica what happen?" Joslyn asked as she took the gag out of Danica's mouth

"Vampires. They burst in here and grabbed one of my patients and then tied me up."

"Why didn't they just kill you? It's not like vampires to leave someone alive" Joslyn asked as she started to untie Danica

"It's because I didn't feel comfortable killing in a temple, much less killing a priestess." a soft voice said from behind the two of them. Joslyn turned and saw a tall Brenton vampire swinging his fist at her and then every thing went dark.

* * *

"Hey Thorn?" Evelyn asked with worry in her voice

"Yeah?" Thorn responded cautiously

"I'm seeing a lot of blood over here but no body" she responded as she entered the alchemy lab under the stairs.

"Do you see a trail of some kind?" Thorn said as he walked over beside her.

"No. Wait, over there!" She pointed to a few small drops that started to lead upstairs.

"Let's check it out" Thorn said. As the two of them walked up stairs, they saw the few drops they had been able to follow suddenly stopped. "Mjoll had better fix the roof soon" Thorn said quietly "I think it's leaking."

"Really? Mjoll may have been taken by vampires and all you can think is 'Hm, the roof is leaking' besides, it's not even raining" Evelyn said her voice full of distain

"If it's not raining, then what just dripped onto my shoulder" Thorn said fearfully. They looked at each other then up to see a figure cloaked in black suddenly drop onto them.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N Hey guys! Sorry it is another short chapter today. This is going to be my last update for a while though. School just started up for me, and I'm swimming for my school so I have to get up at 4:45 every morning for practice. I'll try to update as soon as I can, but it may be a while, sorry. :(

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"Where am I?" Thorn thought to himself as he awoke. "Ugh, Why does my head hurt so much? I really hope I didn't get drunk last night and. Oh gods" he thought suddenly remembering the black figure in Joslyn's house "Evelyn?" He cried out looking wildly around him. He stopped and truly took note of his situation. He was in a dark cage with three other people. His hands were bound behind his back, the cage itself was in a ruin of some kind, with what looked like an alter raised up in the center of the room and a balcony was over looking the far corner. There were about ten figures in the room total. One guarding the cell, eight were just standing around, looking like they were waiting on something, and a female archer on the balcony.

Suddenly, he heard one of the figures in the cage moan and attempt to rub their head only to realize their hands were tied. He thought the figure was female and figured it may be Evelyn so he attempted to crawl over while making as little noise as possible.

"Evelyn?" Thorn whispered

"Th-Thorn?" the figure replied "What happend? The last thing I remember was walking up the stairs inside Breezehome and then, nothing." Evelyn said confused

"I think we were ambushed." Thorn whispered trying to motion to Evelyn to keep her voice down.

"Why are you moving your hands like that?" Evelyn said loudly and obviously still trying to recover

"Shh!" Thorn said as he saw one of the figures in the room start to approach them. As the figure moved closer, Thorn saw its eyes were a glowing red color confirming what he already suspected. That their captors were the vampires Arein had warned them about.

"Ah, so our cattle has finally woken up, and just in time for the ceremony as well!" A cruel voice came from the figure

"What ceremony?" Thorn said angrily "What are you doing with us!?"

"Not with you," The figure chuckled "With the Dragonborn. She will finally become a child of the night. Just like Lord Harkon wanted her too." The figure said leaning into what little light was available revealing the face of a madman.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey you guys! I'm back! I finally found time to update this chapter and since this is Labor Day, I finally have more time to write! Hopefully the next chapter will be out soon, as always reviews are appreciated**

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"What are you doing?" Evelyn asked Thorn as he attempted to comb his hair with his fingers.

"If I'm going to die, I want to at least look relatively good when I go to Sovengarde" He replied. They had lost count of how many hours had passed since the insane leader of the clan of vampires holding them hostage had told them that he was about to turn Joslyn into a vampire. Since then, the other figures in the cage had woken up. One was an Orc and the other was a young Nord. Both were members of the Dawnguard.

"How did you get your hands free?" asked the Nord confused and worried. "Why didn't you untie the rest of us?" he continued.

"In answer to your first question," Thorn said as he foucused on his hair. "Trade secret. and I didn't untie the rest of you because if one of the vampires were to come over here, you wouldn't be able to hold your hands right and they would be able to tell that you had gotten out. Besides, it's not like you can do anything right now." Thorn said apparently satisfied with the way he thought his hair looked.

"We could fight back!" the Nord hissed trying to avoid attracting the vampires' attention.

"With what Agmaer? We have no weapons" The Orc spoke up for the first time since he had woken

"I-I don't know Durak." Agmaer said his voice admitting defeat

"Well, we are going to fight back at some point, we just have to find the right time" Thorn said as he took off his right boot and started pushing the heal back and fourth "Just to let you guys know, if you ever have someone captive, always take their boots and gloves." He said as he pulled the heal off the boot and retrieved a small dragonbone dagger stashed in the sole.

"Hey! Be quiet before I cut your tongues out of your heads!" The vampire closest to the cage said hearing, but not listening, to the four talk

"What do you expect to do with one dagger?" Evelyn asked after a few minutes so that the vampires were no listening

"Take a hostage, find out where they are keeping our gear, retrieve said gear, then fight our way out." Thorn said putting his boot back on and stashing the dagger in a small sheath on his lower back.

"What about the rest of us? They will kill us if you try to take a hostage and we have no way to defend ourselves." Durak said calmly

"Oh. I, um, I didn't think about that. Usually when I break out of somewhere, I don't have other people to worry about. Sorry." Thorn said sheepishly. "I guess there's nothing left to do but wait." he sighed

"So that's it!" Evelyn said angrily "You're just giving up?"

"No, this isn't giving up. This is planning, for now. If I think of another plan, or if I see the opportunity to save us all, I'll do something. No use in worrying about it now though." Thorn said as he leaned against the bars of the cage and closed his eyes "Maybe Tobias will come back with support." he murmured

"How? How can he do that when he can't even speak?" Evelyn asked almost in tears "I don't want to die." she started to cry

"Hey, everything will work out in the end. It always does." Thorn said as he put his arm around her "Besides, Sovengarde is a great place. Seeing it in person, well it changed my whole outlook on life. I'll get to see my father again and all the friends I've lost, and so will you."

"Is it really that great?" Agmaer said quietly "I know you travled with the Dragonborn to defeat Alduin, but did you really go to Sovengarde?" he asked

"Aye. I can't even truly describe to you just how incredible it really is." Thorn said smiling slightly as he reminisced.

"Thorn," Evelyn said "Put your hands behind your back again. I-I think it's almost time." her voice cracking as she noticed the same insane vampire from before walking towards the cage.

"Thanks," Thorn said quietly as he adjusted his hands so it was almost impossible to see that his hands were free.

"Well!" The vampire said cheerfully as he clapped his hands together "It's almost time! Hope you're ready for some fun!" He cackled insanely. "Get ready! Because, well, I certainly am!" he said gleefully as he brought out a key and started to unlock the door. He opened the door and pulled Durak and Agmaer out using one hand for each of them. "Now then, are you going to be good boys or am I going to have to put you down like I did your dog of a leader?" The vampire said condescendingly.

"Excuse me," Thorn interrupted "But I don't think we have had the pleasure of learning your name." he said his voice smooth as oil

"Ha! I suppose you haven't" the vampire said with a laugh "I will tell you in a bit. But first, do you hear that?" he said cupping a hand around his ear "It sounds like they are bringing the prisoners out. And you know what that means" he said smiling that insane smile of his "Beware, Beware the Dragonborn comes"


End file.
